An eternal legacy is the term 'Colemanballs'; which even today is adopted in broadcast circles to refer to commentator gaffs. Having spent much of my career (prior to retirement) working with sports journalists; I think it's a worthy epitaph; but for all the wrong reasons.......
The term "balls" was first associated with David Coleman at the BBC in 1957. There was a broadcast black-out, but Coleman could be heard calling out in the studio to the technicians, "Trust you to make a balls of that." But his association with this term thereafter is the result of one of the oddest myths in sports broadcasting;
Coleman's association with verbal slips is so strong that he is often given erroneous credit for the earliest referenced example of a "Colemanball"; yet the broadcaster responsible was actually Ron Pickering at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal who said "and there goes Juantorena down the back straight, opening his legs and showing his class." (n.b. Coleman was merely the studio anchor.).
Private Eye then reinforced the myth by its regular "Colemanballs Column" giving wider prominence to commentator and sports-person gaffs; notably many by Murray Walker; and classics like Frank Bruno's "That's cricket, Harry, you get these sort of things in boxing" and Brian Johnston's (perhaps somewhat contrived?); "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey". But I don't believe that Ian Hislop ever published a gaff directly attributable to Coleman himself. They just weren't humorous enough.
David Coleman was himself so professional that he was rarely guilty of anything other than the occasional over reinforcement of the facts; like "He is 31 this year; last year he was 30"; and; "Brendan Foster, is out there by himself, with 20,000 people".
With David Coleman's passing; along with the recent loss of Sid Waddle; Harry Carpenter; and many of the other great early commentators; we are fast reaching the end of an era. These were all people with real passion; understanding; wide sporting knowledge; wit and exceptional communication skills that were properly trained and qualified journalists; had empathy with their audience and were not highly paid former sportsmen that stumbled into a studio or newspaper office because the Editor thought it might sell a few more copies. I can't see memories of most modern day presenters ever being so enduring....
.......except for their 'Colemanballs'.
RIP [Post edited 22 Dec 2013 23:29]
|  |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
